Alison Clement

When I joined twitter years ago I wrote about Proust. How he said we use too many words and twitter seemed like an antidote to that. I wrote about funny things that happened, clever things people said, books, my writing. Then the world fell apart and here we are Free Palestine.

You're supposed to stay in your lane when you have a substack but nobody says how big that lane can be. open.substack.com/pub/alisonclem…

@Ibrahym22Nagi @chessbollah @shaunking I miss reading him.

Did you know that in honour of Nakba Day, Annemarie Jacir’s PALESTINE ’36 will stream free exclusively on Watermelon+ on May 15?! This is an absolutely brilliant and moving MUST-SEE film for the whole family. “A sweeping historical epic on resistance, identity, and liberation.”

@Villgecrazylady they can't have it both ways-- bragging about their cruelty, shoving it in our faces, and then expecting us to believe their denials

This is Dr. Nicholas Maynard, a gastrointestinal surgeon at Oxford University, in February 2025 after returning from volunteering for a 3rd time in Gaza. Dr. Maynard describes how he treated a dozen children who had been used as target practice by the IDF.

@KerryBurgess Last year I wrote to a message board in the little Mexican town we visit telling the locals not to come here. Now it's everyone. Family in Ireland, friends in Europe: stay away.

Anyone who goes to the United States deserves what they get. You would be way safer and more respected in North Korea.

I thought the problem was simple. We did not have an ultrasound machine at the clinic, and I wondered whether bringing a gynecologist would still make a difference without one. But her answer made me realize how small my question really was. The issue was never only the lack of equipment. There are changes happening to women’s bodies everywhere around us, and almost no one is speaking about them. No one is truly paying attention to what war, displacement, fear, and humiliation are doing to women physically and psychologically. She told me something I had never fully understood before. “In these societies,” she said, “women’s health issues are often considered shameful to discuss openly.” And suddenly, I felt something heavier than silence. I felt ashamed, not because of what she said, but because I needed someone to remind me that an entire category of suffering had been pushed so far into silence that even we had stopped truly seeing it. Then she told me something even more unsettling. “The war has changed everything,” she said. Before the war, most gynecological cases were related to pregnancy. Women came carrying life inside them. Now, the cases are entirely different. Most of the patients are teenage girls and older women. Women whose bodies are no longer functioning the way they once did. She described it slowly and carefully. Months without menstruation. Or the opposite: prolonged, exhausting bleeding that lasts for days or weeks. Even women who had already reached menopause are experiencing abnormal bleeding again. Hormonal cycles have become severely disrupted. Bodies no longer seem to recognize themselves. Many now require medication, not for complex diseases, but simply to help their bodies regain a basic sense of balance and normal function. And I sat there thinking: What kind of life does this to a body? What kind of fear alters something so deeply human? The answer is everywhere. It is in the tents. In the suffocating heat. In the fear that never leaves. In the humiliation of exposure, of having no privacy, no control, no personal space in which to simply exist. A few days ago, in our small clinic, we organized a simple awareness program for pregnant women. Four days of discussions about maternal health, child care, and basic survival during displacement. But something unexpected happened. Many women came to register who were not pregnant. They simply wanted to be there. To sit in a place created for women. To feel seen. To feel heard. To feel, even briefly, that they were more than the lives they are now forced to endure. Because their lives have been reduced to something unbearable. Living inside tents. Fighting relentless heat. Enduring insects, rodents, exhaustion, and constant discomfort. And something even more difficult to describe: The loss of privacy, the loss of dignity, the loss of the ability to simply feel human. One woman said something I cannot forget. “We used to live in homes where we could cry quietly in the corners,” she said. “Now, in the tent, we cannot even say ‘ah’ because every sound is exposed.” And in that moment, I realized: This is not only a medical crisis, this is not only about hormones. This is what happens when human beings are stripped of safety, privacy, stability, and dignity for so long that even the body itself begins to collapse under the weight of survival. And somewhere inside all of this are women trying desperately to hold themselves together in a world that has left them no room to breathe. No room to speak, no room to whisper their pain, and perhaps the most painful truth is this: They are not asking for miracles, they are asking for something far more basic. To be seen,to be heard. To be allowed to feel human again. #WoundedGaza

Members of Bikers Against Child Abuse volunteer to escort children to court when they’re required to face their abusers, helping them feel safer and supported during one of the most intimidating moments of their lives.

as Israel continues to target the best of us

@BetterCallMedhi you may feel alone, but truly you aren't ❤️

je supporte de moins en moins ce monde, son théâtre permanent, ses fausses urgences, ses indignations trimestrielles, ses opinions interchangeables, ses combats médiatiques sans mémoire, ses cycles d'enthousiasme creux et d'oublis programmés… j'ai l'impression d'être né dans le mauvais siècle ou peut être simplement dans le mauvais récit collectif & j’étouffe doucement dans cette époque qui célèbre les phénomènes éphémères et qui oublie tout le reste je regarde les gens autour de moi et j'ai parfois la sensation étrange d'être devenu étranger à ma propre époque, leur façon de vivre, leurs centres d'intérêt court termistes, leurs rêves emballés par des algorithmes, leur rapport au temps, leur rapport à la connaissance,leur rapport au sacré, tout cela me semble parler une langue que j'ai cessé de comprendre depuis longtemps sans même m'en apercevoir alors comme je l’ai souvent avoué ici je me réfugie dans la solitude parce que c'est là que je retrouve la version de moi qui ressemble à quelque chose, dans le silence d'avant l'aube, dans les livres qui m'attendent depuis des siècles & dans les pensées qui prennent enfin le temps de mûrir la solitude est devenue mon foyer secret, le seul endroit où j'arrive encore à rester pleinement humain

@AnnieForTruth Is it any suprise? After seeing their silence in the face of the murder of nearly every single journalist in Gaza, how can we expect anything more?

Yes!

🚨Nicholas Kristof, grand reporter au New York Times, signe une enquête qui va faire mal. Très mal. Sa question finale, il l'emprunte à Netanyahu lui-même, celle que le Premier ministre israélien lançait au monde après le 7 octobre : « Where the hell are you ? » Aujourd'hui, Kristof la lui retourne. Et elle tombe comme un couperet. L'article est accablant. Des Palestiniens, hommes, femmes, enfants, sont violés systématiquement par des soldats, des colons, des gardiens de prison. Des viols avec des matraques, des carottes, des bâtons. Des chiens dressés pour pénétrer des détenus. Des hommes qui urinent du sang après qu'on leur ait ligoté les testicules. Des femmes dénudées, battues, giflées, présentées comme un trophée à chaque relève de garde. Des enfants menacés qu'on leur enfonce un bâton dans le cul s'ils ne coopèrent pas. Ce n'est pas une exception. C'est une politique. Un rapport de l'ONU parle de « procédure opérationnelle standard ». Une pratique généralisée, encouragée par l'impunité totale. Ben-Gvir traite les détenus de « raclures » et « nazis ». Netanyahu qualifie les poursuites contre des soldats violeurs de « blood libel » et les réhabilite. Et les États-Unis ? Ils appellent ça 'de simples allégations'. Allégations. Qu'ils aillent dire ça aux enfants qui ont vu des chiens les monter. La question de Netanyahu, « Where the hell are you ? », Kristof la retourne : où étiez-vous pour les Palestiniens ? Où sont les condamnations ? Où sont les sanctions ? Où sont les ambassadeurs qui se déplacent avec des caméras ? Où sont les suspensions d'aide militaire ? Nulle part. Parce que les victimes ne sont pas les bonnes. Parce qu'être Palestinien, c'est être une victime de seconde zone. Parce que l'Occident a choisi son camp, celui du violeur plutôt que du violé. Et bien sûr, la hasbara est aux abois. « l’article le plus antisémite des temps modernes ». Leur seul argument : crier au loup pour qu'on ne regarde pas leurs monstres. Mais les victimes, elles, ne crient pas. Elles saignent. Article du NYT en commentaire.

@JEcheverriZ for the crime of being a decent human

“Tres prisioneros de Gaza testificaron sobre el Dr. Husam. El Dr. Husam no puede digerir la comida de mala calidad que le dan, vomita constantemente y se le niega deliberadamente el tratamiento. Está esposado de pies y manos. Durante el interrogatorio, lo desnudan por completo, lo golpean y lo someten a torturas inimaginables. Los tres testigos recalcaron que el Dr. Husam no podrá soportarlo mucho más. Cerca de 1000 trabajadores de la salud están encarcelados en prisiones de este Estado sionista corrupto.”

"all the other journalists who used to do this were killed by the Israelis" and someone I know who is a journalist in Israel writes to me: don't you ever think about how WE feel

“Esta es la Revolución socialista y democrática de los humildes, con los humildes y para los humildes. Y por esta Revolución de los humildes, por los humildes y para los humildes, estamos dispuestos a dar la vida.”

@JimmyJ4thewin respect

Nobel Laureate J.M. Coetzee has refused to attend the Jerusalem Writers Festival, citing lsraeI’s genocide in Gaza.

@PalPress24 I once met a veteran who eventually visited the towns his bombs destroyed. He was now organizing with Iraq Veterans Against the War. A man who confronted his own crimes.

“With these bullets fired by the occupation army from behind the yellow line for amusement, dozens have been killed and injured inside their tents: The child Ahmed was killed while having breakfast with his parents blood burst from his head and mouth. Fatima was killed while breastfeeding her baby. Hala was killed while writing her school lessons. And many others.”

¡Es bellísima esta nueva versión de Confortably Numb que hizo Roger Waters para Palestina! Waters se lo envió Yanis Varoufakis, quien lo mostró el 4 de mayo durante el discurso de la gran @FranceskAlbs.

Kendi evladın değil diye mi susuyorsun? Susma ! Lütfen paylaş.

@nxt888 ecocide a crime against humanity and the US got away with it

Agent Orange. Let's sit with this for a moment. The U.S. military, between 1961 and 1971, sprayed approximately 20 million gallons of herbicidal chemicals over approximately 4.5 million acres of Vietnamese land. Primarily a compound called Agent Orange, contaminated with dioxin, one of the most toxic substances known to human science. The stated purpose was "defoliation." Destroy the jungle canopy. Deprive Vietnamese fighters of cover. What it actually did was poison a country for generations. The people who were directly exposed developed cancers at catastrophic rates. They died of diseases their bodies had never been designed to fight. They had children with devastating birth defects: missing limbs, destroyed nervous systems, bodies that could not function. Those children had children who were also affected. The dioxin settled into the soil, into the water, into the food chain, into the bodies of everyone who ate and drank and breathed in contaminated areas. This did not stop in 1971. The poison is still there. The birth defects are still happening. The cancers are still happening. There are Vietnamese people alive today, born decades after the war, whose bodies bear the mark of a chemical weapon deployed before their parents were old enough to fight. The U.S. government spent decades denying responsibility. Fought legal battles to avoid compensation. Eventually offered amounts so insulting they functioned more as mockery than reparation. And then, this is the part that should make every person with a conscience unable to sleep, they continued to present themselves to the world as the "moral authority." The defenders of the "rules-based order." The nation that other nations should model themselves on. Vietnam did not model itself on America. Vietnam defeated America. And Vietnam is still here.

When the use of Agent Orange was finally outlawed in Vietnam, the company simply rebranded it and brought that poison home to spray on the forests of Oregon, for one thing. thepeoplevsagentorange.com